The Importance of Owning Night Vision
Night Vision is about far more than just looking cool
When it comes to maneuvering through the dark, there are a few different options to really get the job done. Sure, you can use a headlamp, or a flashlight, or a gun light on your rifle or pistol, but what if you want to see without being seen? This is where night vision goggles come into play. Whether you are a hunter, or in a survival situation where you need to eliminate targets in the dark without being seen, night vision goggles are always good pieces of equipment to have on hand right next to your other gear, like a plate carrier and duty belt. However, they are not cheap, and you want something that is quality, so what do you do?
What is Night Vision?
The first thing to discuss is exactly what night vision is, and it is more than just flicking on a beam of light seeing at night. Night vision devices come in single tube, dual tube, or the ones that look like the L3 Harris GPNVG-18 Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles, which are going to cost you somewhere around $40,000. What night vision goggles do is they allow you to see in low light or even pitch black conditions, often without being seen by the enemy, or your prey depending on the situation that you are in.
How does night vision work? Well, the old school night vision devices use optoelectronic image enhancement, which works by sensing small amounts of infrared light that are reflected off objects. From there, the devices will electrically amplify that light into a characteristic glowing green image. However, with newer night vision technology, the devices will use digital image enhancement that captures available light on a digital image sensor. From there they will digitally enhance the images in a full-color display.
The older night vision goggles would be easily spotted by someone else looking through an infrared lens, as the older tech was basically just a large infrared beam. The same goes for low budget knock off night vision goggles that you can get in a toy store or online, but they still function. Take a look at the image captured by an iPhone of low-budget night vision goggles that came included with the popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video game. While they work just fine, they emit infrared like nobody’s business.
Aside from all that science and technology mumbo jumbo, the bottom line is that night vision goggles help you to see in the dark, and can be extremely useful whether you are dealing with a home invasion, hunting an animal, or are trying to take out an enemy force. There are many different scenarios that could prompt you to throw on some night vision goggles, aside from just looking cool.
Why You Should Have Night Vision
Night vision might be something that you never really considered a necessity. Then you bought your first firearm, got a bunch of attachments for it, bought more items like plate carriers, chest rigs, and so on, and now you probably have a helmet with an empty mount, and you need something on it. We’ve been there, it starts as just one gun for home defense, then a few years later you have far too much money dumped into all this gear that you don’t know if you will ever use. But that is the point, it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, and with the way the world is right now, you never know when you will need night vision.
For example, if you are sitting at home one night and all the sudden your power goes out and you can hear someone trying to get your door open, you may be on the verge of falling victim to a home invasion. You could grab a flashlight, but then the bad guy(s) will know exactly where you are. That being said, if you happen to have some night vision handy, you have the upper hand.
Another, more extreme example is if the country were to ever get invaded. Are you prepared? Not only should you have the first aid kits ready, your ammunition stocked, and a go bag fully packed at all times, but you should have night vision handy to help you navigate the terrains at night and evade enemy forces. Take a look at countries like Ukraine and Israel right now where, where an enemy of theirs invaded and now ordinary citizens are left to take up arms and fight back. If that were to happen where you live, are you prepared? You need to think of all possibilities.
What is a Good Night Vision Unit to Buy?
All that being said, you may be wondering what night vision unit is worth the money and gets the job done. Well, you may have seen them on our site, but we are big fans of the Low Light Innovations LLUL-21 unit.
The LLUL-21 is the newest addition to Low Light Innovations’ premium housing line. This housing represents the pinnacle of their products, featuring an array of stand-out features. Let’s take a deeper look.
Specs
POWER SOURCE: External Power (4 AA)
FOCUS RANGE: 9.8” TO INFINITY
OPERATION TIME: APPROXIMATELY 90 HOURS
MAGNIFICATION: (1X) ONE POWER
FIELD OF VIEW: 40 DEGREES
INTERPUPILLARY ADJUSTMENT: 51 TO 73MM
DIOPTER ADJUSTMENT: -6 TO +2
EYE RELIEF: 25MM
WEIGHT: 460g
WATER RESISTANCE: SUBMERSIBLE UP TO 66 FT
INTENSIFIER TUBES: COMPATIBLE WITH MX-10160 OPTICS: COMPATIBLE WITH PVS-14 EYEPIECE AND OBJECTIVE
Durability and Weight
The LLUL-21 may be ultra-lightweight, but has a highly durable body for optimal performance in any situation, meaning they can take a beating and still function properly. Low Light Innovations is proud to say that this is currently the lightest housing on the market, with a weight of just 16.2 ounces when paired with standard PVS-14 optics.
Key Features
The LLUL-21 housing comes equipped with an array of impressive features, including individual pod on/off, perfect IPD stops, external power, and a battery pack that is included with your purchase. Low Light Innovations stands by being for the people, which is why they make their equipment accessible and affordable for all consumers. However, the price does not mean that you will sacrifice the quality.
You also have the option to customize your LLUL-21 housing with your choice of colors and configurations. Choose from the colors of:
Black
FDE
Ranger green
Gray,
You also can select the perfect optics variant for your needs, including RPO UL Optics, Elbit Mil-Spec Optics, and Anvis (coming soon). And you are able to optimize performance with the choice of intensifier tube variants, including Elbit Green Phosphor, Elbit White Phosphor, and L3 Unfilmed White Phosphor.
The Elbit White Phosphor tubes gives you a budget-friendly alternative to L3 WP with similar performance, making them a great choice for intermediate users. All of the Elbit White Phosphor tubes are hand-selected to ensure a minimum FOM of 2000. If you're looking for top-of-the-line performance, then L3 Unfilmed White Phosphor tubes are the best on the market, providing a crisp image and excellent brightness.
Price: Price will vary depending on what specs you choose for your unit. Visit Core Vision Training’s product page, or Low Light Innovations to see how much yours would cost!
Training
All of that being said, you do not want to get caught not training with your gear, as when SHTF, you will be unprepared. With that, go check out some of Core Vision Training’s classes, as we offer anything from CQB to long range LPVO training. Get used to training with your gear.
